Twist as $70 million Oz Lotto winner found
Victorians stand down — the winner of Tuesday night's life-changing $70 million Oz Lotto draw has been found, and they're actually from Tasmania.
The lucky winner is in fact a soon-to-be retiree who purchased their ticket through Oz Lotteries, an authorised reseller of The Lott.
It's understood the contact details The Lott initially received were incorrect, which is why they initially said the winner was from Victoria.
The winner told Oz Lotteries he checked his account more than 15 times since 11pm on Tuesday, not believing he was a multi-millionaire.
His 18 standard games ticket was confirmed as the winning Division 1 entry by officials on Wednesday morning.
He also took home a Division 7 prize of $17.25 as a little cherry on top of the cake.
'I have hardly slept all night. I was wondering if I was dreaming, and I was going to wake up and someone was going to say, it was all just a dream,' the winner said.
'I don't have to come to work anymore, it's -1 C here at the moment where I am working. I might just go and hand my resignation in right now.'
The winner said he has had a tough couple of years and now plans to retire early and buy a house with his partner.
'I am just getting back on my feet and I still have a mortgage when everyone else (my age) is about to retire,' he said.
'I have been saying I will have to work until I am 70, but not now.'
The $70 million first division prize is the second biggest of any Australian lottery game this year, and Oz Lotto's fourth-largest prize ever.
The winning numbers for draw 1633 are 44, 34, 45, 1, 46, 25 and 21. The supplementary numbers are 9, 14 and 16.
In division two, 20 winners each took home more than $48,000, and 193 division three winners banked close to $6000.
Gaming authorities predicted one in five Australians would snap up a ticket for the chance to secure a slice of — if not all — of the huge jackpot.
Three Oz Lotto division one wins, totalling $185 million, had been written into the books so far this year.
A $70 million Oz Lotto jackpot was won this year by a 15-share syndicate in Queensland, with each taking home a $4.7 million slice.
A western Sydney woman made history with a $100 million win in February, the game's most lucrative prize ever.
'Who is this? Why are you calling this late?' the winner told The Lott when contacted after the draw.
'What the hell! Can you repeat that? Oh my God! Don't lie to me!'
Just a few weeks later, $15 million was claimed by a North Queensland man.
If you're concerned about your gambling or the gambling of a friend or family member, log on to Gambling Help Online or make contact via phone on 1800 858 858. You can access online counselling as well as services in your state or territory and support for family and friends.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Courier-Mail
an hour ago
- Courier-Mail
The sad truth about how Aussies treat their neighbours in 2025
Nearly three quarters of Aussies don't feel like they know their neighbours anymore, with many avoiding saying hello and even sending passive aggressive messages. Exclusive data from Real Insurance and MyMavins reveals Australians are socialising less with the people they live near, highlighting a generational gap in behaviour when it comes to a sense of community. One of the biggest discoveries from the report was that 72 per cent of people nationwide feel Australians are less interested in knowing their neighbours compared to 20 years ago. Meanwhile, a whopping 62 per cent of Aussies admitted they'd lived next to someone for more than six months without ever having met them. Among Gen Z and Gen Y Australians, that number rises to 71 and 70 per cent respectively. Psychologist and founder of the Happiness Institute, Dr Tim Sharp, said many of 2025's neighbourly habits came from a changed relationship with how people socialised. 'For Gen Z and Gen Y, community isn't always next door,' he said. 'It's often online, interest-based, and built in comment threads and DMs rather than driveways and cul-de-sacs.' 'That community is not so much defined by geographical boundaries, but more by other things like passions, interests … the need for connection hasn't gone anywhere. It's an inherent part of being a human.' The data, taken from the Real Neighbours Report 2025, was collected from interviews with more than 5,000 Australians aged 18 and over. In doing so, the report was able to calculate the country's happiest neighbourhoods, using a scoring system that ranked friendliness, likability, helpfulness, community spirit and noise. Across Australia, the overall neighbourhood rating sits at 69.5, with the best areas at scores of 75 and the worst at scores of around 63. Australia's top three areas include Sutherland in Sydney, Cairns and South Australia's south east. On the other end of the scale, Central West NSW, Ballarat and inner Melbourne were ranked with the lowest scores within the ranking. The number one source of judgment between neighbours is noise level: with 48 per cent of Aussies judging neighbours for their volume, and a third of Aussies feeling judged for the same thing. That judgement is not always invisible, either. One in four Aussies have received passive-aggressive messages from the people around them, with that number jumping to one in three among Gen Z responders. To make matters worse, more than a third of Aussies have felt their privacy was invaded by a neighbour, from observation without their consent to even entering their property without permission. Neighbours can get so bad that nearly a third of those surveyed had taken concrete action to escape difficult ones. 17 per cent of Australians have called the police on a neighbour before, and 12 per cent have actually relocated to save themselves strife. The study also shows a generational gap in behaviour. While nearly 9 in 10 Aussies greet neighbours regularly, only 30 per cent of Gen Z always acknowledge their neighbours when passing by, compared to 73 per cent of Baby Boomers. Baby Boomers are also twice as likely as Gen Z to know all of their neighbours, at 36 vs. 18 per cent. Dr Sharp said these changing habits weren't always as bad as they seemed. 'There's not necessarily a distinction between online and real life nowadays,' he said. 'There's nothing wrong with messaging someone rather than walking around a corner … but the best way to utilise the contemporary technologies is to use them as a means of fostering [real life] relationships.' Jo Taranto, founder of community outreach group Good for the Hood, said she often saw online groups being made for people to connect within their suburb, using social media apps such as Facebook. 'Online groups are great to supplement and support existing relationships, as well as create new connections for events that are coming up,' she said. '[They] have a really positive place to build local identity and support local activities.' It's not all doom and gloom for Australian mateship in the data, either. 48 per cent of people surveyed said that a casual conversation had eventually led to friendship with a neighbour. Around 2 in 3 Australians see their neighbours to be overall helpful and likeable, and 80 per cent consider good neighbour relationships to be important for safety and emergency reasons. That's more than just talk, too. Nearly 3 in 5 people nationwide asked neighbours to watch their homes and over half of Aussies share groceries and tools with the person next door. 'Connection to neighbours, or community, is vitally important,' Dr Sharp said. 'We all have different preferences. There's no one size fits all approach.' 'You need to do it in a way that works for you … in some way or other, we all like to and need to connect.'
Sky News AU
2 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Labor left with ‘no choice' but to force super tax after weak GDP figures in March, shadow treasurer Ted O'Brien declares
Labor has been left with 'no choice' but to go after citizens' earnings with its proposed super tax as slow growth plagues the nation and hurts tax revenue, shadow treasurer Ted O'Brien has declared. Join to watch the full interview with Ted O'Brien on Business Weekend at 11am (AEST). The Albanese government's proposal to double the tax rate on funds in super balances above $3m and target unrealised gains could soon be legislated as the Greens' approval is all the bill needs to go through the Senate. It comes as recent GDP figures showed Australia was headed back towards per capita recession territory with growth slumping to just 0.2 per cent in the March quarter. The super tax proposal has faced fierce backlash from the Opposition, economists and leaders in the business community. Mr O'Brien is among those and tore into the Albanese government's fiscal management on Sky News' Business Weekend. 'The only reason they're doing it is they've lost all discipline on fiscal responsibility,' the shadow treasurer said. 'Debt (and) deficits (are) going out of control and they've got no ambition for the Australian economy.' He criticised Treasurer Jim Chalmers who lauded the 0.2 per cent growth, arguing the uncertainty from Donald Trump's trade war meant any growth was a decent outcome. 'We heard it last week from the Treasurer after the national accounts came out. What, 0.2 per cent growth in the quarter? Seriously? Lower than last time!' Mr O'Brien said. 'At a yearly basis it's running at less than half of the long-run average of growth and the Treasurer is happy about that. '(There is) no ambition for growth of the Australian economy and when you have no ambition and you overspend, you have no choice but to go after the earnings, the money of your own citizens. 'That's what this super tax does.' Labor's plan to tax unrealised capital gains has drawn backlash from Aussies concerned about small businesses, farmers and startups as many put assets in their self-managed super funds or use it as a low tax investment vehicle. Wilson Asset Management founder Geoff Wilson said by forcing Aussies to pay taxes on paper gains it will hinder investment in Australia. 'Both Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers - and probably most of the government - are gaslighting the Australian people by saying: 'Look, this will only impact a very small percentage of people that pay the additional tax',' Mr Wilson told Sky News. 'That's correct, but what it'll do is actually impact about how $4.2 trillion in superannuation is invested. 'We anticipate that the money will come out of self-managed super funds (SMSF), which is about $1.1 trillion, and billions of that will go into the housing market and push house prices up . ' He cautioned Aussies who use their SMSF as a low tax investment vehicle will be discouraged from funding projects and businesses in the Australian market. 'People won't want to take risk on their superannuation in the self-managed super funds,' Mr Wilson said. 'The angel investors and the startups and the small companies in Australia that find it hard to raise capital, particularly at this point in time - that tap's going to be turned off.'
The Age
2 hours ago
- The Age
The rich get richer: Australia is at risk of becoming an inheritocracy
It's been a little over a year since I last said this, but once again, there is a record number of billionaires in Australia. According to the Australian Financial Review' s annual Rich List, which names the 200 wealthiest Australians, our island nation is now home to 161 billionaires. Compared to last year's 150 billionaires, that's a growth rate of 7 per cent over just 12 months. Compared to the first Rich List, which was published in 1984, it's even more staggering. That list had just two people with the equivalent wealth of $1 billion in today's money. Each year's list always makes for interesting reading. In part because it's a pervy way of knowing more about notoriously private people, sure. But mostly because it tells us a lot about the state of personal wealth in Australia. And while this year's list is no exception, the picture it paints is far from idyllic. Some of the main takeaways from this year's list: there are only 10 new names from last year's, which makes the list's entry rate just 5 per cent. For comparison, in 2000, there were 40 new entries. It's also worth noting that only one of the 10 new entrants is a woman, and women comprise just 21 per cent of the total list of 200 (42 people). The most remarkable name among the newcomers list, though, is easily Michael Dorrell, the founder of investment firm Stonepeak, who not only made the top 200 for the first time, but made his way to No.7 with a personal wealth of $13.8 billion. Then there's the fact that the 'poorest' person on the list has a personal wealth of $747 million. Meanwhile, the richest person in Australia, Gina Rinehart, has a whopping $38.11 billion. She's also held the top spot for six years running. Collectively, the wealth of these top 200 Australians comes to a combined $667 billion. That's 20 per cent of Australia's GDP. And did I mention that while the rest of us struggled through the cost-of-living crisis that feels never ending, the group's wealth grew by a cool 6.9 per cent compared with last year? Perhaps most significantly, though, is the analysis of economist Reuben Finighan, which looked at 40 years' worth of Rich Lists (from 1984 to 2024) and compared them in real, inflation-adjusted terms. Here, he found that the spoils of the wealthiest 200 Australians grew 7.7 times faster than per capita wealth over those four decades.
